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Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 3:14 am
My answer is no, yet he has been stripped of many honours which is understandable, however it's a dangerous path to go down. A convicted criminal shouldn't be hindered by his past to pursue his professional career, and on that note I don't think it's appropriate to strip awards that he was given after the time of the offences he committed. It sends the wrong message - the message that anyone with a sex-crime history is unworthy to pursue their passion and achieve.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 3:20 am
Even if his crimes were committed during the years for which he will be recognised?
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 3:26 am
No, I think it's appropriate to revoke any given while he was a sex-offender, but not after the last convicted offence took place. As I said, all it does is add to the culture of seeing convicted persons as life-long criminals not worthy of the upper, middle, lower or working classes.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 3:33 am
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 4:24 am by ignoramus.)
(July 17, 2014 at 3:26 am)Aractus Wrote: No, I think it's appropriate to revoke any given while he was a sex-offender, but not after the last convicted offence took place. As I said, all it does is add to the culture of seeing convicted persons as life-long criminals not worthy of the upper, middle, lower or working classes.
My take would be:
He should've been locked up then, but was never found out. Had he been locked up then, he wouldn't have become the great man in the first place.
Surely we're not saying it's OK to harm young girls, but as long as you don't get caught, be free to become a great man.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 8:33 am
(July 17, 2014 at 3:26 am)Aractus Wrote: No, I think it's appropriate to revoke any given while he was a sex-offender, but not after the last convicted offence took place. As I said, all it does is add to the culture of seeing convicted persons as life-long criminals not worthy of the upper, middle, lower or working classes.
I don't really have a strong opinion one way or the other on this issue, I can understand your points about vilifying criminals for eternity and I agree with you to a certain extent.
However what I think you have to bare in mind is that Rolf was only just recently convicted. You say that he shouldn't have any awards stripped after his last offence took place, but if he was caught and convicted at the right time he wouldn't have been a free man who was able to gain such awards in the first place. He's effectively been living and earning these awards on borrowed time. I think it's at the discretion of whoever gives out such awards. I think they do have the right to strip awards from people who could give their organisation or whatever a bad name.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 9:50 am
(This post was last modified: July 17, 2014 at 9:55 am by ManMachine.)
(July 17, 2014 at 3:14 am)Aractus Wrote: My answer is no, yet he has been stripped of many honours which is understandable, however it's a dangerous path to go down. A convicted criminal shouldn't be hindered by his past to pursue his professional career, and on that note I don't think it's appropriate to strip awards that he was given after the time of the offences he committed. It sends the wrong message - the message that anyone with a sex-crime history is unworthy to pursue their passion and achieve.
What I think is probably more relevant is that awards like the OBE, KBE, MBE, etc. were all founded on a concept of the British Empire at a time when we were committing all kinds of vile acts to peoples across the world. A friend of mine was awarded an OBE, he's black and well known for his opinions on racial equality, especially in America where he now works. I pointed out to him what his OBE represents, it's a hang-over from a time when his ancestors were being brutally subjugated in the name of the British Empire and now he wears the badge. He's not exactly happy with me right now but he knows I'm right.
Scrap them all. Outdated, inappropriate, jingoistic bollocks.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 9:52 am
Don't know who the guy is but I'll tell you how things work - After you do your time your debt is paid, you can't be considered a criminal afterwards, you'll just keep the criminal record.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 10:26 am
it depends what the awards were for, if the awards were for working well with children then he probably should be stripped of those awards, if the awards were growing the best turnips in melville then it doesn't really effect that.
I don't even know what awards Rolf Harris had really and I think a lot of awards don't really mean much as it is, they probably mean a lot less when pretty much the whole world views him as some sort of sex offender.
As for his professional career I doubt he's going to be able to go back to doing animal hospital, drawing pictures for kids or doing insurance commercials when he gets out of prison.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 11:00 am
(July 17, 2014 at 10:26 am)paulpablo Wrote: As for his professional career I doubt he's going to be able to go back to doing animal hospital, drawing pictures for kids or doing insurance commercials when he gets out of prison.
At his age I'd be surprised if he didn't die in prison.
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RE: Should Rolf Harris be stripped of his awards?
July 17, 2014 at 11:14 am
(July 17, 2014 at 11:00 am)Napoléon Wrote: (July 17, 2014 at 10:26 am)paulpablo Wrote: As for his professional career I doubt he's going to be able to go back to doing animal hospital, drawing pictures for kids or doing insurance commercials when he gets out of prison.
At his age I'd be surprised if he didn't die in prison. I looked at Rolf's Wikipedia article, and found that, if he serves his full sentence, he'd be released shortly after his 90th birthday. Some may say it's too lenient, but, really, what chance does a 90-year-old man in prison on charges related to sex with children (one of his charges was against a woman 7 or 8 years old, and, the way I understand it, even hardened prisoners find those charges repugnant) really have of surviving?
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